Improved safety-hatch for buildings



N. PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D c.

l distinti gita-iet ychosen N. cantinas, or Taunton, NEWl Jnnsnir.i

Letters Patent No. 100,264, dated March 1, 1870.

IMPROVED SAFETY-HATCH FOR ABl'J'IlliDING-S.

The Schedule referred Yto in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom t may concern Be it known t-hat 4I, GEORGE N. GREAMER, of' Trenton, in the county of Mercer, and State of N ew Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Hatches for Buildings, of whichimdescription.

lhe object o f my invention is to construct Aa safetyhatch, or series of hatches, which, on whatever iioor or in whatever part of the building it may be located, can be operated from any other part or floor of the building, and, when not held open, will close and lock itself', and when several hatches are used in the same building, they may be operated separately and independently, as above. p v

The first part of `my invention 4consist-s in making the horizontally-moving hatch single, or in one piece, instead of making it in two parts which open away from each other; and the improvement to this end provementspthe following is a full, clear, and exact consists in cutting a slot across the hatch, in line with Athe movement, extending from the front edge ot the hatch backward past the line at which the hoisting-rope depends through the hatch. By this means the hatch can slide past the rope in opening or closing, rendering it unnecessary to have the hatch divided and slidingr away from the rope in both directions, as is the case when the rope depends through a hole in the center ofthe hatch only.

lhe second part ofv my invention consists in support-ing the single hatch firmly against vertical or lateral pressure, thus preventing `it from giving way or.

beinglifted up or forced open when notin use; and to this end,'the improvement-s consist in combining a supporting-ledge t'or the front of the hatch, a locking device on the front. of the hatch, and an automatic locking device at the back ofthe hatch.

The third part of my invention consists in a method of opening the hatch, from any part oi' the building; and to this end the improvements consist in the coinbina'tion withthe hatch of a `system of cords, pulleys, spring drums, and marking blocks, as hereinafter more particularly se't fort-h. f

The fourth part oi my invention consists in making the hatch, when not held open, self-closing and selflocking; and to this end the improvements consist in a. Inovel combination with the hatch, of a system of cords, pulleys, spring drums, and an automatic lockingtuinbler.

The object of the fth part of my invention is to hold the hatchl open when desired, and yet admit of its being closed from any floor of the building without going up or down for the purpose 5 and to this end my invention consists in a fricticu-brake or swinging arin provided with a gain-fork or kerf, in which the cord that operates the hatch may be held against the force v with a joint.

of a spring drum until it is desired to close the hatch, when by a slight pull upward or downward the retain- .ing-brake or arm is raised, andthe cord released from it, thereby allowing the hatch to close and lock itself.

'lh'e sixth part of -my invention consists in arranging the pulleys and operating mechanism in such manner and in such places, that they present no obstruction to the ordinary use of the tloorsof the building.

` The objectof the seventh branch of my invention' is to render it practicable to open any one lof a series ot' hatches, from any floor or part of the b uilding, so that, for example, a man on the ground-door can hoist a box to the upper story, opening a hatch on each door as the'box comes toit, and as soon as the box passes through, the hatch will close and lock itself, or the from. any part of the building.

Inl the accompanying drawings whichmakepart of this specilicatiou-M Figure 1 represents aplan or top view of the skeleton frame of a portion ot' a building to which my improvements are applied.

Figure 2 represents a view off the same, partly in elevation and partly in section, at the line :vx of tig. 1.

` Figure 3 represents a plan or top view of the same partly in section at .the line y'y of iig. 2, showing the lower floor. l

Figure 4 represents a vertical transverse section througlrthe same atthe line f: z of fig. 3.

Figure 5 represents a view in elevation of one of the hatches detached and seen from one side.

I have shown my apparatus applied to a two-story building, as being suiiicient to illustrate myinvention, though the numberot'iioors may be varied.l

Figs. l and 2 alsg show devices for opening the hatches by weights and bythe hoisting apparatus, but` these devices constitute the subjectmatter of another application tiled simultaneously with this one, and therefore constitute no part of the subject-matter of this application.

Through that part of the floor at which it is desired to locate the hatehway, Icut an opening of size conformable to the requirements of the bulks to be raised, bringing, .by preference, each side of this opening flush away the iiooring and the intervening joists, in the di rection in which the hatch is to run, as far as is requisite for the movement of the hatch in opening and- In line with this opening I also out ing, also making it ilush with the under side of the joist. Still further hack and about midway of the cnt, in the` flooring, I frame in a cross-piece, e. Along the sides of the opening and back 'to the end of the cut in lthe floor, I attach strips of timber, ff, below the upper surface of the joists, and on these strips I fasten the rails b b. I bevel oi' the under edges ofthe strips f f, so as to prevent anything that is being hoisted from being caught upon the edges of these strips. I, moreover, set the strips f j a little ott' from the side pieces orjoists, (by putt-ing in blocks at intervals,) so as to leave openings between the side pieces and the rail strips, through which openings dirt and trash will fall instead of accumulating on the rails. I thus have the opening ready for the application of' the hatch and its opening and closing mechanism.

Ot course where the hatch opens across the joists, the framing above described will simply be-made to conform to the cross-timbers and 4side pieces will be flamed in as the end pieces are described above. Inmost cases, however, the opening will be found'already provided inthe building, and it will only be' necessary to out away the flooring back of the openings and put in the rail strips.

Upon the strips ff I fasten the rails b, which I make of iron, having a narrow bearing-surface, and sloping on one side downward towardthe. openings between the strips ff and the joists, so as to facilitate the discharge of thedirt or trash,

lhe hatch itself is made to cover the opening, its forward end resting, when the hatchway is closed, upon the ledge -c, while its back end rest-s upon and mainly covers the piece 7i, the hatch heilig thus snppolted against direct or vertical pressure vwhen any.- thing is moved across it.

To prevent the hatch catching of the ropeor other accident, I proyide on the under side of its front end, tenons, orhooked pins or `studs c, fig. 5, which, when the hatch is closed, catch in holes or recesses provided for that purpose in the face of the ledge c.

I cut an opening, d, through the hatch from its for! ward edgia to a point back ofthe perpendicular of the rope, the rope hanging in the usual manner in this slot, but with this advantage, that I am enabled by this means to make a single hatch serve instead of having 'a double hatch as when a round hole only is cut in the hatch, in which case the hatch must be opened away from the rope on both sidesl I mount the hatch upon rollers a. a, which have flanges on their outer sides and run on the rails b b, in the usual manner. Across the under side of the hat-ch at a point which when the hatch is closed, rests a little in advance of the back piece h, I `fasten a cleat or any other projection," against which the locking-tumbler holds, as hereinafter described.

On the back cross-piece h I secure two lugs, in which I pivot a forked casting, h, with a projecting nose, the fork heilig horizontal, that is, parallel with the line of movement of the' hatch, and working freely up and down on its pivot. In this fork I secure a pulley, z', the weight ot' which should be such as to depress the fork when it is not held up by the cord, as hereinafter described.

The nose of the fork projects beyond the pulley, and a spring under the nose holds it up when not pulled down.

0n the cross-piece c I fasten' two horizontal drums, G' and J, one, G', being larger than the other one. 1n each of t these drums is a coiled spring, the spring in the drum J being made weaker than that in the larger drum G'. Beneath the floor, and by preference near the wall farthest from the hatch and in line with the slot d in he hatch, I mount a horizontal pulley, g,

` ornerI m er'tical pulley, g2.

from being lifted up by any.

vertically over that point in the door from which it is desired to operate the hatch.

I now attach'to the spring drum G', at one side, a cord, I, one end of which is coiled around the drum, and the other end around the pulley i in the forked cast-ing h', and fasteuedto the back end of the hatch. To this same end of the hatch I tasten another cord, j, the other end of which is att-ached to the smaller spring drum J. I then attach to the side of the spring drum G at the side oi' it opposite to the cord I, a long cord, G, the other end of which is carried hack to and around the pulley y, under the pulley y, up to and over the pulley g, and to and over the pulley g, from which it depends through holes cut for the purpose to within easy reachoi' a person standing on the floor i'om which it is desired to operate the hatch.

T he operation of opening and closing the hatch -is as follows I By pulling on the cord G it is unwound from the spring drum G' toward the pulley g3, and at the same time unwinds the cord I, toward the hatch, thus slacking it, so .that all tension being removed from the pulley 'i in the forked casting, the forked casting is depressed by the weight oi' the 4pulley i and the pull on the cord, and the hatch is unlocked. The spring drum J now immediately takes up this slack by winding up the cordj, and in doing this it draws back the hatch, its tension in so doing tending to hold down the (pivoted) locking-tumbler h'.

To close the hatch, it 1s only necessary to release `the cord G, when the superior force of the spring i drum G will wind up the cord G, and at the same time thc'cord I, thus drawing the hatch ihrward, and closing it, when the tensicfn of the drum G on ,the cord I will raise the forked locking-tumbler fr against the cleat on the under side of the hatch, and hold it up, firmly locking the hatch. t

A'simple device is provided to keep the hatch open, and to close it from a higher or lower floor, without going from one story to another for that purpose. I 4attach to or beneath the floor on e'ach story, an arm or bracket, P, which swings on a holt or pivot, and has a gain or kerf cut in it that will hold the cord G lightly, but Erm enough to resist the spring drum G. v By slipping the cord G into this kerf, as the arm hangs down, the hatch is kept open. VThen it is desii-ed to close the hatch, a" slight pull willy lilt the arm and release the cord, when the hatch, will close. Itis obvious thatthis pull can be given ei'ectunlly either from above or below the floor on which the hatch is located.

'To prevent any accident that might occur from op erating the wrong hatch, when there are hatcheson each story, I attach blocks l, or other marks, to each cord, on each floor that it passes through, so as to designate which hatch it is connected with.

The spring drums and pulleys, it will be observed, are all arranged between the floors and ceilings, in -which position they present no obstruction to the occupants of the building.

I do not claim boadly a hatch sliding horizontally over a hatchway, and operated from a distance or from a differentv door.

Having thus described my improvements,

What I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The hatch, r rnoving horizont-ally across the entire hatchway, with a"slot extending inthe. line oi' its movement through which the hoisting-rope depends, sub stantially as and for the purpose describef.

2. The combination with the slotted hatch moving.,r entirely across the hatchway, of the ledge supports and lifted, substantially as described.

the tenonsA and mortises, to prevent the hatch being Y 3. The combination with the hatch, of thepcculiar locking-tumbler, constructed `and operating substantially as described.

4. The combination with the hatch and the system v of pulleys a'nd cords, 4of the spring drums, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. The combination with the hatch and the trippingcord, of the friction-arm or bracket P, substantially as and for the purpose described.

6. The combination with thehatchway, of the rails, when set off from the framing,r of the hatchway so as to leave openings between the rails and framing, sub-A l lstantially as and for the purpose described.

7. The combination with the mechanism for opening the hatch, of the spring drums for automatically closing the hatch7 substantially as described.

hatch, of the marking blocks substantially as and for 

